Our Poverty with a View

Slip On Over

Posted by Brittney | Filed under Before & After, Craftiness

I showed you our fancy new slipcovers that we found at Overstock.com last week. I finally finished the homemade version for our ottoman. This thing was in seriously bad shape. The dogs had used it as a doormat to wipe their muddy paws, there was that red gatorade incident and the cross country trek didn’t make it look any better. But a lady needs to kick up her feet every once in awhile so we didn’t want to toss it. Luckily, I have super sewing skillz (or mediocre-whatever) and was able to whip up a new cover for this baby in less than 3 hours.

I used the tutorial on Design Sponge with a few tweaks. This is super simple! If you can sew a straight line, you can make an ottoman slip cover. So grab your sewing shears and I’ll show you how I made mine.

I used about 2 and a half yards of fabric. Here’s a link to an upholstery chart if you’re in the market to recover something. I used a heavy linen from Joann’s Fabric. It cost around $9 a yard. A little steeper than cotton but I figured we’d be washing this a lot so I wanted something to hold up well. *Note-washing and drying fabric in an apartment is no beuno. I had to pay $2.25 to preshrink the sucker.

Moving on…I measured my ottoman and added a 3/4 inch to the width and 1 1/2 inch to the length per the tutorial. This helps with making it a snug fit.

I sewed one short side and one long side together and then pinned it on the chair to mark where I should make the final seam.

I only did this because my ottoman tapers at the bottom. If you have a perfect square, feel free to skip this step and use a standard seam.

After sewing the side seams I put it back on the ottoman to double check my handy work and pin on the top. Make sure you put the skirt part on inside out for pinning. I also pinned them hem at this point. I found it easier to mark while it was on the ottoman than lying flat. Do whatever makes you feel good.